How The Hell Does Tessa Thompson Thompson Get Fifth Billing In The Cast?

Lana Parilla, who is a much better actress than either of them. The answers that I got were, like your reasonable reply, along the lines of “they
have a higher profile.” Reasonable, but, Lana Parilla is a much more dynamic presence on OUAT than either of the other two actresses.

I believe in people being properly rewarded for their worth.

I haven't really bothered with the Marvel films, so you're good. I've seen Iron Mans 1, 2 and bits of 3. Can't remember jack from any of them, other than Robert Downey Jr made me laugh at the time of watching them. I've seen The Avengers (found it ok), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (very good in my opinion), bits and pieces of Agents of Shield, and that is it. So I got little to work with if I wanted to talk about the actress's work, namely just her episodes in the first season.

I haven't really been bothering watching this second season at all, namely because I'm focusing on other things, and for some reason I have found it less time consuming to just read a recap online, and come here to read comments or complaints about the episode. Call me weird, but that's what I've been doing, mostly with shows that I lost interest in, but plan to revisit, namely Fargo Season 3, The Walking Dead Seasons 7 through 8, Once Upon a Time since Season 1 and onward (seen bits and pieces throughout the years), and now this show.

I don't know how the actress has been doing in terms of acting as of this season, but from what I remember last season, the actress was serviceable at best, but the weakest of the main cast. I kept hoping Season 2 would open with her violently getting gunned down or murdered, due to her character and not the performance. I didn't watch the premiere, but I found the new intro on YouTube, and when I saw the actress's promotion with the main leads, I'm like "Oh great, more of this bitch." And when I found out about her role in Thor: Ragnarok, I thought "Oh, she's gonna stick around for a while then, so no thanks."

As for Once Upon a Time, I got little to work with here, other than what I've researched here, but bare with me if I get something (or a lot of things) wrong. If I remember the show correctly, up until the 7th season, it focuses on Jared Gilmore and Jennifer Morrison. Ginnifer Goodwin gets top billed probably because of her popularity on HBO's Big Love, and Jennifer second for being on House, MD. Jared was a child actor at the time, so others would be listed above him, namely Lana Parrilla and Josh Dallas. I can't attest to my knowledge of Lana Parrilla being the better actress than Ginnifer or Jennifer, so I'll take your word for it as of now.

Personally, though, I don't think credit billing should be done based on "higher profiles" or "being properly rewarded for worth". My whole thing is either "main cast from most amount of screen time to least" or "main characters from most important to least important". Either one, because I've seen shows or movies dedicate most of its time on certain characters, despite another character or others being the main leads. Bates Motel, overall, is about Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore). But, his mother Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga), gets top billed, even in the last season when its almost exclusively Freddie Highmore's show by that point. The actress's profile puts her billed above the main character since the beginning. But at the same time, you put her and Highmore in the same room, same scene, she trumps him. Put him with others, he trumps them. And same thing to her with others. But together, she trumps him. Regardless, though, I see her as a supporting character to HIS story overall, and she should be billed as second, because he is the main lead.

Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke are, technically, the two main leads of the ensemble cast of Game of Thrones overall. Yet, we get a lot of screentime focused on Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey, who are also billed above those two, because they are better actors and more intriguing characters.